As I advance in ripe old age
I find that mem'ry fails
I find myself confused and lost
While marching down the trails.
A letterbox is somewhere near;
I'm sure I read the clue.
But now I find the printout's gone,
So what am I to do?
I think I'll try my lifeline call;
I dig into my pack.
But then I find my cellphone's dead,
No GPS to track.
No friends to call, no email notes
To guide me on my way.
I'll have to use my compass skills
Or in these woods I'll stay.

As I advance in ripe old age
I find that mem'ry fails
I find myself confused and lost
While marching down the trails.
A letterbox is somewhere near;
I'm sure I read the clue.
But now I find the printout's gone,
So what am I to do?
I think I'll try my lifeline call;
I dig into my pack.
But then I find my cellphone's dead,
No GPS to track.
No friends to call, no email notes
To guide me on my way.
I'll have to use my compass skills
Or in these woods I'll stay.

now...if i could just remember where i put my compass....

Set up some way that letterboxers, with a couple of clicks, can download all the letterbox clues in a STATE to their HD.

Do you realize how much bandwidth that would suck up?!

-- Ryan

Set up some way that letterboxers, with a couple of clicks, can download all the letterbox clues in a STATE to their HD.

Do you realize how much bandwidth that would suck up?!

Simple solution...
Note: This Feature only available for North Dakota

-wassamatta_u

Do you realize how much bandwidth that would suck up?!

So? Many of these boxers have high-speed connections. Besides, it's probably not that much, really; each state probably only has a few hundred to a few thousand boxes, and the clues are mostly text. The problem with downloading them all is not the bandwidth, it's that presently I think you have to bring each and every one up onscreen individually.

The thing to do, actually, would be to enable people to conduct a search and then just make a couple of clicks and download all the clues in the search results in one fell swoop. Hence, they can set up the search to omit boxes already found and whatnot.

Not a perk that most people can enjoy, but it's sometimes convenient to carry ALL of the clues listed on Atlas Quest in my pocket. =)

Oh, are you sure about that? ;-)

http://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.html?gBoxId=3798

Hahaha, it is funny because it is true.

"Hello, this is Rajiv and you have reached LBX Tech Support!" ;-)

LB

I use the browser all the time (except when I don't have coverage). Comes in especially handy when I haven't read the clue beforehand and it asks an obscure trivia question in the middle as part of the clue.
I usually have no cell phone coverage of any kind at French Creek.

I usually have no cell phone coverage of any kind at French Creek.

I usually have coverage there, I think. I distinctly remember a cell phone conversation about how to solve quadratic equations.... where I DON'T get service, ironically, is Brandywine Creek.

"Hello, this is Rajiv and you have reached LBX Tech Support!" ;-)

I've answered my phone like that! Well, but I use my own name.

Thank you for calling resQlou's letterboxing support line.
* press 1 if you need a clue
* press 2 if you have the clue but need a hint
* press 3 if you have no clue where you are
*

Yes. I've been the supporter (nothing like being armed with broadband access to AQ, LbNA and Google Earth) and the supportee.

Should have used it yesterday, but oh well...

*S

I've only been a lifeline, not used one. I don't have a cellphone anyway. It sure is odd when someone calls you at work and says hi this is *trailname*. Can you help me with XYZ clues? Particularly when you don't even remember having giving out your work number.

Oh and love that story for my Bonehead LTC swap, Red Cruzsader ...hehe

pre

I used my iPhone once while riding in a car with another letterboxer. She mentioned she had a personal traveller, I looked up the clue, did the research and made her hand over the stamp... I use the phone a lot on the trail for all the reasons mentioned.

This is one disadvantage of always letterboxing as a duo: there is no one at home to call for clue info!

Grumpy Grinch
who never before felt disadvantaged on the trail

I used my lifeline!!!!! I knew I was in the right spot; but, the clues were not matching up. I went back and tried all sorts of things thinking...maybe they put go left and its really right, maybe they got the # hole on the golf course wrong etc.

It turned out that the holes had been re-numbered and that just threw everything WAY off. I called a recent finder who darn near drove themselves crazy trying to find the box too. The end of the story is I found the box. :)

Oh yeah - even if its just to taunt another (Koko) boxer about getting a find before he did... tried using him as a lifeline - but he was just laughed at us...

mud

I think I need a new life line. I called my sister asking her to find me information about a certain type of tree. She confidently told me it was an evergreen. Well, Duh! I live in the Pacific Northwest - all the trees are pretty much evergreen. (To give her credit, she lives in the Cleveland area - not prone to much green of any kind in the winter!)

I love this thread - too funny. I wish I had thought to call somebody when I knew I was in the right place, but not a box in sight. The clues had been changed. I went home and checked for myself and made another trip out the next week. A life line call would have been a good idea. Wish I thought of it!

there is no one at home to call for clue info!

Who calls home? i call other boxers i know are at work and close to a computer. MAHAHAHAHAHAHA

P.S. Love love loved the Poem GG.

deniserows
and boxes in retirement

*press 4 if you fell off a cliff and need help getting back up......

MW

I had actually thought about setting up something such as distributing CDs with all the boxes listed on AQ that people could carry around with them easily.

My travel preparations now involve the creation of my own mini travel guide based on various web resources, Google Maps, and of course, letterbox clues. I build these using PDFCreator and PDF Split and Merge. A copy of the resulting PDF then travels with me. I have been bringing it on my laptop, but in the future I may also carry copies on an SD card that I can use via either a USB adapter or in a PDA.

Sunny

Ryan-

When I found your box out a Port Mayaca, I totally brought my laptop with me and used it to compare the pic's with where I was! I'm glad I did too, because I might have missed the box otherwise.

Letterboxing with technology is quite helpful :)

My travel preparations now involve the creation of my own mini travel guide based on various web resources, Google Maps, and of course, letterbox clues. I build these using PDFCreator and PDF Split and Merge. A copy of the resulting PDF then travels with me. I have been bringing it on my laptop, but in the future I may also carry copies on an SD card that I can use via either a USB adapter or in a PDA.

OMG! you are way over my head with the computer stuff. i still just hit print. i am so old. Older than dirt.

deniserows
in the dirt

May I ask what kind of USB card reader you use for your SD card? I hear some of them don't work very well.

Shiloh

My travel preparations now involve the creation of my own mini travel guide based on various web resources, Google Maps, and of course, letterbox clues. I build these using PDFCreator and PDF Split and Merge. A copy of the resulting PDF then travels with me. I have been bringing it on my laptop, but in the future I may also carry copies on an SD card that I can use via either a USB adapter or in a PDA.

Who shot who in the what now? =)

Sheba
whose computer skills stop at copy & paste....

May I ask what kind of USB card reader you use for your SD card?

Sorry it took me a while to catch up on the boards again, but here is my somewhat convoluted answer. I have used the following readers:

SanDisk
Lexar Jump Drive
Kodak
the one built into my HP laptop
and some cheap one that did not even have a name on it

I have never had any trouble with any of them. I have occasionally had trouble with some cards though. We almost lost some photos, but my wife found some cheap application that pulled almost all the photos (~99%) with a click. I can't remember the name of it, but I can get it if someone is interested. The Lexar Jump Drive and the Kodak something-in-one reader have both traveled heavily, and probably gotten wet, dirty, and gosh knows what else.

Sunny

Sunny

Thank you. I bookmarked this.

Shiloh

It sure is odd when someone calls you at work and says hi this is *trailname*. Can you help me with XYZ clues?

Or in my case, when I call pre at work and say "hi this is autumnsfolly. I cant even find my way to the PARK ... much less to your box. HELP!".

True story.

:-P
Kat / Autumnsfolly
in desperate need of navigational skillz